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Struck by the Wish to Own

The Buyer Alison Ehrmann and Charlie did not move far from their old stomping grounds.Credit
Brian Harkin for The New York Times

Alison Ehrmann lived in the quintessential brownstone on a quiet block on far West 100th Street. Her one-bedroom rental had high ceilings, exposed brick and a tiny kitchen. Her rent was $2,000 a month, just $200 more than when she moved in nine years ago. “I had great landlords, and they really valued good tenants,” she said.

She was in no rush to move. But she found herself scrutinizing open houses on Streeteasy.com and hankering for a permanent place to buy. “The more I looked, the more I liked,” she said, “and I thought it was something I could take on.”

Ms. Ehrmann, 42, a Cornell University graduate who works in marketing for a publishing company, decided to hunt for a two-bedroom two-bath apartment. Her goal was a monthly outlay of $3,500 or less, which translated to a purchase price around $600,000.

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Powell Blvd. The layout of a two-bedroom apartment was pleasing, and the price was right. But the boulevard below was noisy.Credit
Brian Harkin for The New York Times

Two-bedrooms in Harlem were within her range. She visited one at a 10-unit condominium building, the Ellison on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. Listed at $520,000, it had monthly charges in the mid-$700s. She loved the layout, with bedrooms flanking the living room.

At a postwar co-op building on Fifth Avenue at 108th Street, Ms. Ehrmann found a two-bedroom for $645,000 with maintenance fees of almost $1,100 a month.

But the neighborhood, north of Mount Sinai Hospital, gave her pause. There was no retail activity on Fifth Avenue and little on Madison.

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Fifth Avenue A two-bedroom at 108th Street was over budget, but the real drawback was the area, which had very few stores.Credit
Brian Harkin for The New York Times

“I wanted to be able to walk to a neighborhood restaurant,” she said, “and I kept thinking, ‘Where’s my Duane Reade?’ I love exploring a new neighborhood, but nothing made me take the plunge.”

Last summer Ms. Ehrmann realized how much she appreciated her current neighborhood and decided to search there, although that meant lowering her sights to a one-bedroom. “I really struggled,” she said. “I wasn’t going to move unless I found something that didn’t feel like a downgrade in terms of space and was worth paying a fair amount more per month.”

She enlisted Keith Burkhardt at the Burkhardt Group, which functions exclusively as a buyer’s agency and also offers a partial commission rebate on closing. With so many online resources available for apartment-hunting, “I didn’t feel like I needed someone scheduling everything for me and taking me from place to place,” Ms. Ehrmann said. “I just needed a little help with everything else.” Everything else included offering opinions and advice and, when the time came, negotiating.

She decided against a one-bedroom in a building with a lovely roof deck, reasoning that she would be spending most of her time inside her home, not on the roof. She disliked oddly configured one-bedrooms obviously carved from larger apartments. And she walked away from places with renovations that weren’t to her taste. “I didn’t want to rip out a brand-new kitchen or bathroom,” she said. “But I also didn’t want to live with things I didn’t like.”

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West 96th A building had several attractive apartments available. But the co-op did not allow dogs.Credit
Brian Harkin for The New York Times

A brick building on West 96th Street had large one-bedrooms featuring sunken living rooms. They were priced in the high $400,000s or low $500,000s, with monthly maintenance in the $900s. She was tempted by every listing — until she realized the co-op wouldn’t allow her dog, Charlie.

In midsummer, she finally found a place she liked enough to bid on, a bright one-bedroom with a large dining area in a postwar brick building in the West 90s. The apartment was listed at $465,000 with monthly maintenance in the mid-$900s. “It was the ugliest building around, but it was priced right,” she said. “Keith asked a couple of questions I wouldn’t have thought of and helped formulate the bidding strategy and take all the emotion out of it.”

Suddenly there were multiple offers. Ms. Ehrmann’s was the highest, at $466,500.

But her lawyer, reading the co-op board minutes, sensed trouble — financial problems and so many neighbor noise complaints that “it led me to believe noise travels in the building,” Ms. Ehrmann said.

Mr. Burkhardt advised her to back out, and she did. “The board minutes revealed a history of complaints where the police got involved,” he said. (The apartment was later bid up even more, and sold for $515,000.)

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West End A one-bedroom needed sprucing up, but had a windowed kitchen as well as abundant closet space.Credit
Brian Harkin for The New York Times

Then, last fall, Ms. Ehrmann visited a one-bedroom in a co-op on West End Avenue a few blocks north of her old place. It was an estate sale, drab and dingy inside.

The bathroom had “sheets of hard plastic on the wall, like fake marble, and I think the tiles were leaking and in such bad shape that this was the easiest way to seal them,” she said. “The kitchen was a sea of beige Formica.” But everything was functioning and fixable, and closet space was abundant . The price was $575,000, monthly maintenance around $1,100.

Ms. Ehrmann paid $545,000 for the place last spring, and moved in after spending about $60,000 on renovations. All that remains of the old bathroom is the tub.

West End Avenue is a bit louder than her old side street. On occasion, she hears the buzz from the elevator, but only if someone on her floor holds the door open.

She was pleased to remain in the neighborhood she knows and loves. “It’s this little pocket of the Upper West Side,” she said. The stores and sidewalks are filled with neighbors, not tourists. “Everyone who’s here lives here.”

Charlie has the same dog walker and the same route in Riverside Park. Ms. Ehrmann did switch to a hardware store three blocks closer, but the stores are owned by cousins. She has the same Duane Reade.